Victoria's Hospitalisations Rise As Quarantine Hotels Flagged For Covid Patients

Victoria's Covid hospitalisations continue to rise just as cases stabalise.

The garden state reported 34,836 new infections on Friday and sadly 18 Covid-related deaths

The new cases were reported from 15,444 at-home RATs and 19,396 PCR swabs collected from state-run hubs.

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Health authorities continue to warn however, that the figure indicated is less than the true number of new infections due to an overwhelmed testing system.

There are currently more than 239,396 active coronavirus cases, with 976 people in hospital with Covid, while 112 of those are in ICU and 30 are on ventilators.

Previously, Victorian hospitalisations peaked on October 18 last year, with 851 people admitted during the Delta wave.

Authorities have also confirmed that the majority of Covid patients in intensive care are unvaccinated.

Meanwhile, as pressure mounts on the state's health system, quarantine hotels once used for returned travellers have been flagged as de facto hospitals for Covid patients in a bid to free up hospital beds

Explored last week by Health Minister Martin Foley and acting chief health officer Ben Cowie it comes as authorities caution that access to time-critical treatment for Covid patients is currently strained.

As a result of cases surging and hospitalisations escalating, chronic understaffing as nurses are furloughed due to Covid, means the quality of healthcare provided would naturally decline.

However, Australian Medical Association president Dr Omar Khorshid said the use of hotel quarantine facilities for Covid patients at the tail end of their care is a complex matter.

“If they still require care, they should be in a health facility and these hotels are not health facilities. That would basically be an admission the hospital systems are failing to cope."

“That would be No.1 a bad decision for those individuals, putting them at an increased risk of further problems, but also it would be a reflection of how serious the situation is in the hospitals,” he warned.

Meantime, health officials say they anticipate the number of hospitalisations will continue to increase as cases peak.

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